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Cleaning products and damage to plastics in ward based shared equipment/devices

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  • #77911
    kate.ryan@austin.org.au
    Participant

    Author:
    kate.ryan@austin.org.au

    Position:

    Organisation:

    State:

    Hi Everyone,
    We are currently reviewing the clinical equipment cleaning processes used at our health service as there is a lot of variation of practice between wards/people, and with products used compared with those recommended in the IFU. However, the main reason we are reviewing this is due to having a significant number of items turning up at our engineering dept with stress cracking in the plastics.

    Has anyone previously investigated environmental stress cracking in plastics of clinical equipment at your organisation?
    If yes, are you able to share with me your findings and whether it was able to be attributed to a particular reason?

    What do you recommend for cleaning products in ward settings (e.g. IV pumps, commodes, weigh chairs, obs machines etc.)? In particular:

    * Do you direct staff to use only 1-2 products to make it easy to know which one to use for which circumstance (clinical vs environmental OR clinician vs cleaner) ?
    * Or do you specify a particular product for each individual item or group of items as per the IFU?
    * If you go against the IFU recommendations, what process did you go through to decide on the chosen product?

    Looking forward to hearing from everyone’s experiences.

    Kind regards

    Kate Ryan

    RMD Program Officer

    [logo_austin]

    0434 609 208 | 03 9496 6706

    Infectious Diseases Department

    Level 7, Harold Stokes Building

    145 Studley Road, Heidelberg

    PO Box 5555, Victoria, 3084

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    #77912
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Author:
    Anonymous

    Position:

    Organisation:

    State:

    Hi Kate,

    The TGA published on this issue back in May 2017 – this is the link to the issue of the Medical Devices Safety Update where is was discussed https://www.tga.gov.au/publication-issue/medical-devices-safety-update-volume-5-number-3-may-2017#a2

    In short they found that products that contained quaternary ammonium compounds were implicated in causing damages to some plastics, particularly polycarbonate materials. They also noted that benzalkonium chloride at concentrations >10% is unsafe for use. They also recommended that staff be educated between the difference of wet and damp cloths and that manufacturer’s IFU should be followed with respect to the product used.

    The VMIA also published on this topic – link here https://www.vmia.vic.gov.au/tools-and-insights/risk-alerts/risk-alert1

    Kind Regards
    Terry McAuley
    Director
    MSc Medical Device Decontamination

    PO BOX 2249, Greenvale VIC Australia 3059

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    Hi Everyone,
    We are currently reviewing the clinical equipment cleaning processes used at our health service as there is a lot of variation of practice between wards/people, and with products used compared with those recommended in the IFU. However, the main reason we are reviewing this is due to having a significant number of items turning up at our engineering dept with stress cracking in the plastics.

    Has anyone previously investigated environmental stress cracking in plastics of clinical equipment at your organisation?
    If yes, are you able to share with me your findings and whether it was able to be attributed to a particular reason?

    What do you recommend for cleaning products in ward settings (e.g. IV pumps, commodes, weigh chairs, obs machines etc.)? In particular:

    * Do you direct staff to use only 1-2 products to make it easy to know which one to use for which circumstance (clinical vs environmental OR clinician vs cleaner) ?
    * Or do you specify a particular product for each individual item or group of items as per the IFU?

    * If you go against the IFU recommendations, what process did you go through to decide on the chosen product?
    Looking forward to hearing from everyone’s experiences.

    Kind regards

    Kate Ryan

    RMD Program Officer

    [logo_austin]

    0434 609 208 | 03 9496 6706

    Infectious Diseases Department

    Level 7, Harold Stokes Building

    145 Studley Road, Heidelberg

    PO Box 5555, Victoria, 3084

    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

    The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.

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    #77919
    Vanessa Sparke
    Participant

    Author:
    Vanessa Sparke

    Position:
    Senior Lecturer Nursing And Midwifery, Course Coordinator Graduate Certificate Infection Control James Cook University Cairns James Cook University

    Organisation:
    James Cook University

    State:

    Hi Kate, I cant really answer your questions however I have been
    involved with the roll out of the GP respiratory clinics, and now
    vaccination clinics for the Dept of Health. We have undertaken initial
    IP&C auditing and then follow-up auditing (at about 6 months) and the
    feedback I am getting is that the products approved by TGA as being
    virucidal (Viruclean, bleach etc) have destroyed keyboards, iPads,
    thermometers and other electronic devices through the degradation of the
    plastic casings. As the GP clinics are cleaning touch points after very
    patient encounter these are being wiped over between 2 and 50 times a
    day (depending on how many COVID tests they are doing).

    Just more evidence that it happens!

    Vanessa Sparke
    Lecturer – Nursing and Midwifery
    James Cook University, Cairns Campus
    Building A2, room 137.1
    E: vanessa.sparke1@jcu.edu.au
    P: 61 7 42321531

    —— Original Message ——
    plastics in ward based shared equipment/devices

    Hi Everyone,

    We are currently reviewing the clinical equipment cleaning processes
    used at our health service as there is a lot of variation of practice
    between wards/people, and with products used compared with those
    recommended in the IFU. However, the main reason we are reviewing this
    is due to having a significant number of items turning up at our
    engineering dept with stress cracking in the plastics.

    Has anyone previously investigated environmental stress cracking in
    plastics of clinical equipment at your organisation?

    If yes, are you able to share with me your findings and whether it was
    able to be attributed to a particular reason?

    What do you recommend for cleaning products in ward settings (e.g. IV
    pumps, commodes, weigh chairs, obs machines etc.)? In particular:

    * Do you direct staff to use only 1-2 products to make it easy to
    know which one to use for which circumstance (clinical vs environmental
    OR clinician vs cleaner) ?
    * Or do you specify a particular product for each individual item or
    group of items as per the IFU?
    * If you go against the IFU recommendations, what process did you
    go through to decide on the chosen product?

    Looking forward to hearing from everyone’s experiences.

    Kind regards

    Kate Ryan

    RMD Program Officer

    logo_austin

    0434 609 208 | 03 9496 6706

    Infectious Diseases Department
    Level 7, Harold Stokes Building
    145 Studley Road, Heidelberg
    PO Box 5555, Victoria, 3084

    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR,AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.
    The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is
    discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to
    products or services by brand or commercial names, please do this
    outside the list.
    Archive of all messages are available at
    http://aicalist.org.au/archives
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    admin@acipc.org.au
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    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

    The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.

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    #77920
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Author:
    Anonymous

    Position:

    Organisation:

    State:

    Hi Kate, most companies have been sending these notifications out as Recalls, the Austin have access to our IFU Library, and if you search up specific devices by make and model, you should able to find any of the associated recalls within the database; I have attached 2 examples.

    The Recall systems worldwide are also used as risk mitigation tools by manufacturers, and tracking this type of information can be a nightmare. We believe that transparent access to Recalls by equipment users ( I am not referring to Recalls which involve disposables that can be removed from hospitals ) is the best option to empower professionals to do the right thing.

    Its also worth noting that many of these recalls are not limited to a specific make if you look at a lot of the historical information related to beds and hoists – many of the injuries were as a result of similar use or engineering issues.

    With the amount of cleaning which has occurred over the last few months, the trend will be the same I have no doubt

    Regards
    George Koning
    CEO
    BioClinical Services
    MOB 0437810269
    https://www.bioclinicalservices.com.au/

    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

    The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.

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    #77921
    Glenys Harrington
    Participant

    Author:
    Glenys Harrington

    Position:
    Consultant

    Organisation:
    Infection Control Consultancy (ICC)

    State:

    Hi Kate,

    You might want to check with the manufacturer/supplier if the disinfectant
    needs to be wiped off equipment periodically.

    This advice has been provided to some facilities that have experienced the
    same/similar issue/problems however it is not included in the manufacturer’s
    instructions for use.

    Suggest you request a response on company letterhead for your hospital
    insurers.

    Regards

    Glenys

    Glenys Harrington

    Consultant

    Infection Control Consultancy (ICC)

    P.O. Box 6385

    Melbourne

    Australia, 3004

    M: +61 404816434

    E: infexion@ozemail.com.au

    Kate
    in ward based shared equipment/devices

    Hi Everyone,

    We are currently reviewing the clinical equipment cleaning processes used at
    our health service as there is a lot of variation of practice between
    wards/people, and with products used compared with those recommended in the
    IFU. However, the main reason we are reviewing this is due to having a
    significant number of items turning up at our engineering dept with stress
    cracking in the plastics.

    Has anyone previously investigated environmental stress cracking in plastics
    of clinical equipment at your organisation?

    If yes, are you able to share with me your findings and whether it was able
    to be attributed to a particular reason?

    What do you recommend for cleaning products in ward settings (e.g. IV pumps,
    commodes, weigh chairs, obs machines etc.)? In particular:

    *Do you direct staff to use only 1-2 products to make it easy to know
    which one to use for which circumstance (clinical vs environmental OR
    clinician vs cleaner) ?
    *Or do you specify a particular product for each individual item or
    group of items as per the IFU?

    *If you go against the IFU recommendations, what process did you go
    through to decide on the chosen product?

    Looking forward to hearing from everyone’s experiences.

    Kind regards

    Kate Ryan

    RMD Program Officer

    0434 609 208 | 03 9496 6706

    Infectious Diseases Department

    Level 7, Harold Stokes Building

    145 Studley Road, Heidelberg

    PO Box 5555, Victoria, 3084

    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO
    NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

    The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is
    discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products
    or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.

    Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives
    registration and login required.

    Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new
    message send an email to acipclist@acipc.org.au

    To send a message to the list administrator send an email to
    admin@acipc.org.au

    You can unsubscribe manually from this list by sending ‘signoff acipclist’
    (without the quotes) to listserv@aicalist.org.au

    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

    The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.

    Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives – registration and login required.

    Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new message send an email to acipclist@acipc.org.au

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